Promenade

Architecture

Beyond the fence starts the promenade, a narrow garden bordering the outer wall of the Plaster Casts Hall. Its red brick construction inspired by antique castle architecture is punctuated by offset pilasters. Its upper section is interspersed with triangular arches barred by grillwork inspired by Antoine Bourdelle’s monogram – the letters A and B intertwined to form a star.

Walk to the end of the garden. Behind the equestrian statue of General Alvear remain two of the eight artist’s studios built in 1884 by the owner Charles Wetzels at 18bis, Impasse du Maine. Made in wood and metal with brick-cladding, they display saw-tooth roofs and north-facing glass walls.

During the construction of the Plaster Casts Hall in 1951, six studios were destroyed. One of them was the final studio of the famous sculptor Jules Dalou, at the end of the 19th century. The inventory following the artist’s death listed several artworks and a “considerable bundle of sketches”, now preserved in the collections of the Petit Palais – Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris.

Plant varieties

Surrounded by a trim-like hedge of yew trees, the promenade provides a shaded corridor. By the start of the pathway, the bronze-like green of the Italian cypress is highlighted in spring by the soft green of the Cornus Kousa. This little tree is keeping company to Noble Burden and gets covered in white bracts before bursting into flames in autumn, together with the two Japanese maples. The figure of Strength softens up at the sight of the sweet and immaculate flowers of the Choisya 'White Dazzler’, a variety of Mexican orange shrub with a compact appearance, blending in with the fragrant panicles of the Japanese Skimmia 'Rubella' and the jasmine-scented Burkwood Osmanthus, brightened by small white clumps. Bergenia, heuchera, and lamium – ground-cover plants for shaded and dry areas – persist alongside the flowerbeds, mixed in with the fern fronds, the dark pink buttons of the Japanese anemones, and the yellow-streaked green tufts of the miscanthus ‘Little zebra' – all dishevelled at the feet of Beethoven in the Wind. From June to the first frost, the hydrangea bushes flourish. The cream white inflorescences of the hydrangea paniculata ‘kyushu’ will turn green by the end of the season. Assisting the Young Sculptor at Work in his thoughts, the supple stems of the hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ are bending under the weight of their bright white heads, washed with green at the start of their blooming period.